Part Twenty
A/n: Again, my deepest apologies for the ending of the last part. But tell me honestly, if you were Minerva, would you not be wanting to gouge Rebecca's eyes out? Also, I'm a little behind at the moment, I was planning on having this part and the next two out before Christmas, but I don't see that happening somehow. So expect the next part around Christmas and the one after (which could well be the last part of the whole series) at New Year.
As she opened her eyes and sat up groggily, it took a few moments for the events that had taken place the last time she was conscious to flood back to Minerva. Rubbing her eyes and groaning inwardly, she realised that she was lying atop her own bed, and she wasn't alone in the room.
"Remus?" she moaned. "What're you doing here?"
"Oh so you're awake now?" He grinned in a friendly manner, and sat down on the end of her bed. "I was beginning to think you'd never come to."
"Ugh, well I have, and I really wish I hadn't. God, I must look a mess..." A brief glance at his face confirmed this.
"Well...you should have seen Rebecca. You gave as good as you got, that's all I can say."
"Good." She muttered angrily, getting shakily to her feet. Stumbling into the bathroom and supporting herself by leaning heavily on the sink, she surveyed the damage that had been done to her face. There was a large gash above her right eyebrow, and a trail of dried crimson blood down her cheek. Her bottom lip had swollen up considerably, and the area around her eyes was covered in scratches.
Remus appeared in the doorway, and she fell into his arms, relying on him to lead her back into her room. He did just this, and didn't remove his arms from her waist until she was sat on the end of her bed.
"Do you mind if I ask why you're here? Or why I'm here?" She enquired, wondering for the first time just how she had ended up in her room.
"Well you are here because Rebecca was taken up to the hospital wing, and we hardly thought it wise to leave you both there....and I am here because I'm under strict instructions from Poppy not to leave your side until I know you're fine."
"Ugh, well I'm not. My face aches, I can't walk, and there's no way I'm going down to dinner looking like this."
"It's a good job you don't have to then, isn't it? A house elf will bring dinner up to you when you're hungry, and I can fix your face for you."
"Really? How?" Not that she really cared. As long as the feeling that her eyes were about to fall out went away, whatever he did was fine by her.
"Poppy gave me this," he told her, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a vial of yellow liquid. "Do you have any cotton wool?"
"Bathroom, cabinet, second shelf down," she muttered, realising how hard it was to talk with a lip that was twice its normal size. He disappeared into her bathroom, and, after a couple of minutes of rummaging, he reappeared with cotton wool. Sitting down next to her, he poured a little of the yellow liquid to a circle of cotton wool, and told her to sit still. Obediently she did so, until he held the pad to her left eye, and she jumped back, almost falling off the end of the bed.
"Ow!" she exclaimed. "You didn't say it was going to sting!"
"Sorry!" He said, raising his hands for peace. "Would you like a sticker when we're finished for being a big brave girl?"
"Don't ridicule me," she growled, sitting begrudgingly back down.
"I promise I'll stop ridiculing you when you don't look quite so much like you were hit by a train." He laughed, pushing the stinging pad back towards her face.
Ten minutes later, when her face looked normal once more, although felt as if it had just been stung by several hundred bees, Minerva started to wonder just what had gone on once she had lost conciousness. It seemed that Remus was just as eager to know what had gone on BEFORE she had lost conciousness though, and seemed that he was going to require answers to his questions before giving any to hers.
"So, care to tell me just what the hell went on earlier?"
"What did it look like?" She asked, sarcasticly.
"It LOOKED like you were bitch fighting in the corridors with a woman who turned up at Hogwarts less than a week ago in an attempt to murder each other, but I'm sure I must be mistaken."
"Not really," she tossed at him casually. "Pity you turned up really."
"Okay, now I need an explanation."
"Why?"
"Because this is not normal! You are not Minerva McGonagall!"
"Really? I was sure I was when I got up this morning....."
"Yes, well the Minerva McGonagall I knew did NOT start bitch fights in the corridors and admit to wanting to kill a woman she barely knew!"
"Maybe we knew different Minerva McGonagall's."
"Maybe. Would this one care to share her motives with me?"
"No she would not, but she rather gets the feeling that she's going to have to."
"I see that this Minerva McGonagall is a sharp as the last one at least......"
"Oh goody." She rolled her eyes. "You really wanna know?"
"Please!"
"The woman is a manipulative slut." He raised an eyebrow. "She slept with Severus." The other eyebrow shot up to meet the first. "She provoked me." He shook his head and laughed under his breath.
"What's so funny?"
"The fact you sounded so much like a six year old just dragged in off the playground."
"I do not!"
"Yeah, you're right. Most six year olds don't know what 'provoked' means...." He paused, and realised that there was a decidedly murderous glint in her eyes. "Anyway! Moving swiftly on! That wasn't actually her story."
"And her story was?" She asked, disinterestedly.
"That you're a lunatic who attacked her for no reason...I wonder which story is more believable?"
"Ugh, don't joke around, I'm not in the mood."
"You have to admit, this is kind of funny..."
"What's funny about it? Please explain, I think I'm missing the humorous side of all this."
"Well...okay, maybe it isn't all that funny. So how'd you know she slept with him?"
"He told me."
"Hmm, usually a pretty big clue.....You okay?"
"Do I look okay?"
"You look tired...a definite improvement on the whole 'just been hit by a train' look, but still not too good..."
"That's just how I feel."
"I've got to ask, did trying to tear her eyeballs out make you feel better at all?"
"Not really. I did actually feel pretty triumphant before I passed out, but, seeing as how I still "'feel"' as if I've been hit by a train, even if I don't look it, then, no."
"You want me to go away so you can get some sleep?"
"It'd be nice, but I don't thing I could get to sleep right now." He smiled, and produced another small vial of liquid, this time orange.
"Sleeping syrum. A couple of drops in a glass of water and you'll be out for hours." She smiled a relieved smile.
"Thank you."
"Pleasure. Sleep well."
"I'll try," she said, tipping a couple of drops of the syrum into a cup of water. She was asleep before he'd left the room. "
'Up in the hospital ward however, there was no sleeping going on. Alot of fuming and cursing, but no sleeping. Rebecca was too angry to sleep. Besides, she wasn't the one who had spent the past two days tossing and turning, wishing that tears would stop forming behind her eyelids. Also, she was awaiting company. She had managed to attract the attention of a passing student once Madame Pomfrey had left her alone for a few moments, and had sent him to Severus with the simple request to go up to the hospital wing. When the small boy had heard who she wanted him to pass the message onto, he had gone rather pale and shaky, but she had winked at him and thrown in a box of chocolate frogs for good measure. At box of chocolate frogs that had been confiscated the moment he set foot in the dungeon, but a box of chocolate frogs none the less.
Severus had been incredibly annoyed upon having his miserable train of thought interrupted, but had begrudgingly left the dungeons for the first time in two days and walked slowly up to the hospital wing.
As he swung open the large door, the first thing her saw was Rebecca, propped up in bed like an invalid, he face covered in small scratches which had yet to be vanished away.
"What the hell have you done this time?" he sighed, getting over his initial shock.
"This time? You seem to be implying something there darling..."
"Forget it," he muttered, shaking his head. "So, care to tell me what the hell happened to you?"
"I was attacked."
"By who exactly?"
"A lunatic."
"A lunatic," he mumbled faintly. "You know, I could have sworn they stopped admitting them into Hogwarts..."
"Not funny."
"I know. So, really, who attacked you?"
"Minerva McGonagall." He paused before saying anything, fighting of an urge to laugh, at the ridiculousness of this statement. Eventually, he just turned to her, a sceptical look plastered to his face.
"Really?"
"Yup. I'm telling you, she's not sane."
"It wouldn't have anything to do with anything that you possibly said to her now would it?"
"Said to her? I didn't have a chance! She threw herself at me!" He sighed.
"Maybe there's a slim chance that other people are "'possibly"' going to buy that. But I know you Becca. And, before you turned up, I was starting to get to know her. And now I want to know what really went on." There was no note accusation in his voice, if anything he was teasing her.
"I "'am "' telling the truth," she pouted. "Don't you believe me?"
"Sorry," he said, raising his hands in self-defence. "But I think I'm going to need a bit more convincing."
"Well I'm not in the mood." She glared at him. "I don't have to defend myself to you or anyone. Go away."
"You want me to come back later when you've finished sulking?"
"Yes please," she said in a small voice, and watched him walk from the room, shaking his head in disbelief.
As he closed the door behind him, he paused for a moment, as the reality of the conversation that had just taken place started to sink in. As he started back towards the dungeons, he couldn't help feeling very disturbed.
Meanwhile, back inside the hospital wing, Rebecca had realised that she was completely alone for the first time, and had seized the opportunity. She had scooped up a rather thick book from under the bed, which she had been carrying around with her for the majority of the day, and was now leafing through the gilted pages. After a while, she paused, and scanned the page she was at several times. She closed her eyes and sighed heavily, as if weighing something over in her mind. After a long while, she opened her eyes, and ran them once more down the page. She took in a deep breath, let it out a again, and slowly murmured the words:
"Inantum, desendum, envaporendum."
It was done.